How to Run a Home Madden Tournament

The "Madden" football video game franchise is one of the most successful of its kind, with more than 20 entries in the series. Because of the series' popularity, it is natural that avid fans would want to form and play out their very own Madden tournaments. Setting up your very own tournament is a simple process that requires little more than the game, game system and a pen and paper to draw your bracket on.

Running a Madden Tournament

Confirm and finalize your participants. Nothing can throw a tournament into chaos quite like participants who either are late or fail to arrive. Ensure everyone who says they will take part in your tournament actually arrives.

Set up your bracket. If there are many players, you can set the bracket placement by writing numbers on sheets of paper and having participants taking them out of a hat. Refer to the link for a sample bracket layout.

If you have an odd number of players, you can have a play-in game to see who will advance into your tournament.

Determine your rules. If you are playing a single-elimination tournament, where the player is eliminated after one loss, say so. If it is a double-elimination tournament, have a second "loser" bracket set up for the losers to battle it out for third.

Prepare each game. Before the participants ever pick up a controller, set each game's difficulty, quarter times and other in-game options. Do this before each game so that the playing field is even.

Tips & Warnings

Tempers can flair up during and (especially) after games. Keep a loose environment to ensure everybody's head remains cool.